Environmental Catastrophe Looms in Florida as Wall Collapse at Phosphate Plant 'Imminent'

Manatee County, Florida, officials urged residents to evacuate Saturday morning, pending the "imminent" collapse of a protective liner in a wastewater pond at the Piney Point phosphate plant.

"Evacuate NOW," an extreme-level emergency phone alert sent around 11 a.m. Saturday read.

Saturday's alert follows an evacuation order residents received Friday after a leak was discovered in the plastic liner of the 80-acre pond that holds 800 million gallons of the site's wastewater, which contain phosphorous and nitrogen, according to the Miami Herald. Officials fear sudden flooding to the surrounding area if the liner were to collapse and release the remaining polluted water in the pond.

Following the realization of the pond's leaking wall, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) worked immediately to block the leak. By Saturday morning, crews' attempts to hold back the breach weren't working, Manatee County Public Safety Director Jacob Saur said.

"There has been further motion with the wall," Saur said. "We've ordered further evacuations and closed U.S. 41. That's all I know right now."

WFLA reported that the Florida Highway Patrol has been turning vehicles around on US-41. A Manatee County Sheriff's Office spokesperson said the Manatee County Jail, which is in the path of potential flooding, was not planned to be evacuated.

"Our first concern is to protect the people who live and do business in the area. People within a half-mile radius received an emergency notification to evacuate at 11:01 a.m. The public must heed that notice to avoid harm," according to a statement by Manatee County Board of Commissioners Chair Vanessa Baugh.

The leak has already discharged at least 25 million gallons of polluted water at Port Manatee, according to the Tampa Bay Times, and environmentalists are worried that amount is enough nutrients already to damage the health of the bay's ecosystem.

Discharges into Piney Point Creek were actually approved by an DEP emergency order to prevent "buildup of pressure in the system," according to an April 2 statement from the DEP. On April 1, DEP crews temporarily stalled uncontrolled discharges into the creek, but "later on uncontrolled discharges resumed."

"To be clear, the department's authorization for the controlled discharges is not a blanket authorization," the statement read. "The Emergency Final Order authorizes discharges at an amount necessary to ensure stabilization."

The agency confirmed controlled discharges resumed Thursday evening after repairs were made to the pipe leading into Port Manatee.

But then around 4 p.m. Friday, officials learned of "a breakout of seepage" in the east wall of the reservoir, and confirmed "DEP's Emergency Management staff are onsite and coordinating with Manatee County to provide assistance with an engineered blockade of natural landscape to halt the breakout to contain the system."

Now officials are bracing for an uncontrolled release. But pending disaster at Piney Point hasn't come from a vacuum. According to the Times, records show that employees of HRK Holdings, the plant's operator, inspected the liner's tear multiple times and found small holes or weaknesses in its plastic seams, as well as potential cracks in December, October and July. There are two other gypsum stacks on the plant's site.

In a July report, an HRK Holdings engineer marked "significant deterioration of the upper portion of the liner system over the last few years," and recommended that the pond should not be used as an emergency pool for another reservoir, citing "relatively high potential for liner failure and potential release of process water into the gypsum dikes or pond floor."

Piney Point was built in 1966 and has historically discharged pollutants, the Times reported, as the industrial site has been passed between public and private ownership.

HRK Holdings could not be reached for comment by Newsweek.

"Piney Point has been mismanaged for decades," Glenn Compton, leader of ManaSota-88 environmental group, said to the Times. "This is just the latest saga."

Newsweek has reached out to ManaSota-88, Manatee County and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for comment on the leak, but did not receive a reply by publication time.